If Only You Knew...
by Silver6
Summary: Slash! Oliver Wood has very few friends, but the arrival of a new student at Hogwarts changes that. However, what will happen when Oliver realises that he is falling in love with his new friend? Oliver Wood/OC. Oliver's POV *Complete*
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This was written for my friend and beta Billy. It's kind of a side fic to my other Harry Potter story, but it isn't necessary to read that one in order to understand this.  Some mention of self-harm and child abuse. Oh and some of you might say that Oliver Wood is out of character in this, but I guess that it depends how you see him…anyone can act normal, even if they are hurting inside.

**Summary:** Set in Harry's 2nd Year. When a new boy comes to Hogwarts, he and Oliver soon become good friends But what will happen when Oliver finds that his feelings for his best friend are becoming deeper than he can handle? Oliver Wood/OC. Oliver's POV. Slash.

If Only You Knew 

****

It's strange; the way things turn out at Hogwarts. I wasn't well known for the first year or two. It wasn't until I became Gryffindor Quidditch captain that people really knew who I was. Half the girls in school wanted to date me then, all the boys wanted to be my friend. But I knew that they didn't like me for who I really was. It seemed like nobody did, apart from maybe Percy Weasley and even he was more concerned about his work than making friends. About half way through my third year, I was injured during a game of Quidditch and forced to stay in the hospital wing for two weeks. Hardly anyone came to visit me, so I sunk into depression. Nobody noticed, but then again I suppose that no one really cared. 

Things changed then. I'd always loved Quidditch, but almost overnight it became an obsession. Gryffindor had to win every Quidditch match; they just had to. I started to push everyone away even more, but I no longer cared. Quidditch was the only thing I cared about. It was the only thing I was any good at, the only thing that earned me any respect. 

When we lost a match, when the depression became too much for me to handle, then I'd pick up my knife and cut at my own arm. The pain took away all of my feelings, the fear that I would never be good enough and the deep empty feeling of sadness that ate away at my soul. Since nobody knew, I probably would have carried on like it for the rest of my time at Hogwarts, putting on a brave face, covering up my scars. But then he came along…

It was the first day of my 6th Year. As usual we arrived and seated ourselves around our tables. Percy made me sit with him and Damon Brockwell, a guy I'd shared a dorm with since I first came here, but whom I'd never really got to know. Not too far away from us, were Fred and George the Weasley twins, Harry Potter and his two friends. Harry called over to me and I raised my hand in greeting, before sitting down next to Percy. Professor Dumbledore stood up and began making his start of term notices. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Professor Snape and a boy I had never seen before, come through the door by the staff table. Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall both looked at the boy and smiled, before turning back to us.

"Before the fist years are sorted," Dumbledore said loudly. "I have someone I want you all to meet. This" he continued as Snape gently pushed the new boy forward "is Vincent Darkshield. His father is a great friend of mine and he will be in the 6th year. I hope you will all make him feel welcome"

The new student looked nervous as Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on his head. "Gryffindor!" the hat called out, almost without hesitation. All around me, people cheered and clapped as the student took a seat next to Fred. I did neither; I'd given up showing any emotion at the sorting ceremony a long time ago. It wasn't Quidditch; therefore it held no interest to me. But I did look hard at him however; I think a lot of people did. Although he looked like us, he seemed different somehow. His jet-black hair was messy, with a piece that kept falling into his dark blue eyes. There were strange eyes, quite unlike anything I had ever seen before. They seemed to be endless and they certain hypothesis you. He carried himself with pride, although he was nervous, he held his head high, joked with Fred and George. That was something I had never been able to do and I envied him greatly. On the middle finger of his right hand, he wore a ring with a bright red stone in the middle. Even stranger still, he had what looked to be a wolf cub sitting at his feet. That would have made him the first student to be allowed to keep a wolf as a pet in a long time. Yes, there was something strange about him all right, an air of mystery.

When we were heading back to our dormitories, McGonagall called me back. When I went over to the staff table I saw that Vincent was there too. McGonagall introduced us and asked me to look after him for a few days. I wasn't particular keen on the idea, but I agreed. 

Over the next few weeks, we grew closer. We sat together in classes, went to the common room together, sat together at mealtimes and helped each other with homework. I tried to kid myself that I was only doing this because I had been asked, but in reality, I liked Vincent. And he liked me too. For once in my life, I finally had a real friend, a friend who I could talk to and share things with. Vincent was pretty secretive about his life, all he would tell me was that his father couldn't look after him when his mother had died, so he had asked his friend Dumbledore to take him in and Vincent had ended up as a foster son to Professor Snape. He wouldn't even tell me exactly where he came from, but I didn't push him. He didn't know about my cutting, after all so I figured that we were even. But of course, things could never stay that simple… 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I forgot to put a disclaimer on the first chapter, so here it is. I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts or anything else linked to the books. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them.

Chapter 2 

I'm not sure exactly when my feelings for Vincent developed into something more. I didn't wake up one morning and realise that I was in love with him or anything. A lot of things happened to make me admire him, and things just sort of went on from there. 

Six weeks into the term, we bumped into Marcus Flint in the corridor. Ever since I've known him we have been enemies, and he takes great delight in calling me a freak. Normally I can just ignore it, especially when I'm on my own. This time however, I found myself being humiliated in front of my closest friend and that hurt. Vincent looked his straight in the eyes and asked him whether it was his mother or father who was the troll. Marcus pushed him and my friend hit him straight in the face, knocking one of his ugly teeth loose. Harry and his friends were walking past along with Fred and George. They of course, thought that it was completely amusing, and I must admit, I don't blame them. It could have got nasty, but Professor Snape came along and Marcus backed off after warning Vincent that he had made a very dangerous enemy. I was worried for him, but Vince just laughed and said that he wasn't scared of Flint.

Not long after, we had an important Quidditch match against Slytherin and two of our chasers went down with flu. Damon Brockwell was an excellent player and I'd already promised him that he could play if there was a space, so he went in. Vincent went in the other space, he hadn't had much experience at Quidditch, but he was a brilliant flyer and I knew that he would try his best. For once, I was almost confident that we wouldn't lose. We couldn't afford to. As it turned out, putting Vincent against Marcus Flint was a bad idea.

The game got off to an okay start. Slytherin got one past me, but we got four goals, two of them scored by Vincent. The three chasers worked well as a team and they certainly didn't let the team down. But then Flint decided to play dirty again.

Grabbing the bat from one of his beaters, he hit the Bludger towards Vincent.

"Vincent" Damon called from the other side of the pitch. "Watch out…"

His warning came too late. Vincent turned to see what was happening and the Bludger caught him on the side of the head, knocking him clean off his broomstick. He hit the ground and we all heard the loud snap as the bones in his arm broke. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape leapt to their feet and hurried over to him. Professor Hooch blew her whistle, signalling that we were to stop. Damon glanced at me as we flew down to see if he was okay. He wasn't. His eyes were closed and his face was pale white. We could see that his head was bleeding, where the Bludger had caught him.

"Take him to the hospital wing" Dumbledore told Snape. "Don't worry, he'll be just fine when he wakes up. Now, do you wish to continue with the game?" he asked, looking directly at me. 

"No" I said without hesitation, surprising even myself. "My friend is hurt and I want to be with him"

"Fair enough" Dumbledore agreed. "The match is cancelled. Go to the hospital wing and tell them that I sent you" 

Damon gave me a smile as I hurried off to find out how my friend was.

Vincent was awake again by that evening, although he was dizzy and not quite with it. His arm was in a sling too, in order to keep any pressure off it. We talked for a while, then he went back to sleep. I took that time to slip off to the bathroom and cut myself, it was my fault that Vincent was hurt and I felt that I had to punish myself for it. 

When I went back to him, he was still asleep his black hair falling in his eyes. And as I looked down at him, I realised with a start that I had stopped a Quidditch match to be with him. I wasn't sure what had processed me to do such a thing, but I didn't regret doing it, not for one second. I reached over and gently pushed the hair from his eyes. As I did, Vincent opened his eyes and looked up at me.

"Hello Oliver" he began to say, then his eyes went to my arm, which was still bleeding heavily. Strangely enough, he didn't look shocked or angry or disgusted. If anything he looked upset. 

"You need to bandage that" he said matter of factly. "Get me some bandages and I'll see what I can do"

"Aren't you going to say anything?" I asked, as I got what he wanted, sat down on his bed and extended my arm. "Like how stupid I am for doing it. Flint's right, isn't he? I am a freak. But I…I have to do it" I fought hard to keep the tears from appearing, I'd never talked to anyone about it before, never had anyone who had cared the way he did.

"No you aren't a freak," he said patiently. "And no, I'm not going to tell you that you are stupid for doing it. I knew, Oliver. I saw you on our first night. Besides" he continued, as he finished with my arm and settled back. "You aren't the only one who does it. Look" With a lot of difficulty, he pulled up the sleeve of his right arm and I could see the various scars, only his didn't look recent. 

"I stopped when I went to live with Snape" Vincent confided. "Well I've done it once or twice since then, but not often. The Professors know, but I prefer to keep it hidden from the other students. Maybe that is why McGonagall put us together. Anyway, don't worry about it, I won't say anything" He seemed about to say more, but his eyes closed and his head slumped to the side as he fell asleep again.

I sat there for two hours, just watching him sleep. And as I did, I realised something. Something that I had been trying to fight but with little success. I was falling in love with him. I was falling for Vincent Darkshield, my best friend… 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts or anything else linked to the books. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them to mess around with. Vincent and Damon both belong to me, I think… 

Chapter 3

****

For weeks I hid my growing feelings for my best friend. It was difficult sometimes, during lessons I'd just sit there watching him out of the corner of my eye. It was torture not being able to tell him how I felt. He noticed that something was wrong almost straight away; he said that I seemed nervous around him; that I didn't seem to be able to look him in the eye. I just tried to laugh it off, make out that nothing was wrong. If he didn't believe me, he didn't say anything. I guess he just thought that if anything was seriously wrong, I would tell him in time. And if it were anything else, I probably would have told him. After all, Vincent was a good friend and I trusted him completely. But how could I tell him that I was in love with him?

We spent most of our time together, having only one or two lessons apart. And the more we were together, the more I worried about him finding out how I felt. Because I always hung onto his every word, I soon noticed that he didn't tend to talk about girls as much as the other guys I knew, but I also gathered that his father had never permitted him to mix with people his own age and therefore he was very inexperienced in relationships. I had no idea how he would react if he ever found out, part of me hoped that just maybe he would feel the same way, but I also knew that he could be angry or disgusted, knowing that I thought about him sexually. He was the only real friend I had ever had and the fear of him rejecting me is what made me keep my feelings to myself. Until one day I could take it no more…

On Valentine's Day, when all the students were sending each other cards, I sent him one. On the front, it had a picture of two wolves howling at the moon and on the inside were the words 'I noticed you a very long time ago. I just wish that you would finally notice me'

As we sat down to breakfast, Vincent was obviously amused to see the pile of cards that greeted me. Percy had one; no doubt from his girlfriend, and Damon had two. Vincent had three and after pushing my cards aside, I waited anxiously to see whom the other two were from. One was a rather cute one, from Harry Potter's friend, Hermione. The other had some romantic poem inside, which Vincent immediately laughed at and threw aside. Damon picked it up, just as the twins made a grab for it. He read it thoughtfully, glanced up at Vincent and smirked.

"Who is this girl?" he asked. "She seems rather keen on you"

"Someone who's father was employed to work for mine" Vincent said with a shrug, proceeding to open my card. "Haven't seen her for over two years, but she still insists on sending me these stupid cards. It is enough to drive you mad"

He pulled my card out of the envelope and read it. As he did he gave a smile and I knew he liked it. I was glad, since I did have a few regrets after sending it. I just wondered if he would figure out that it was me who sent it to him. 

He didn't. Unfortunately. But he did put it on his bedside table and I noticed that he looked at it every time he walked past. I did ask him once, perfectly normally, if he had any idea who could have sent it. He looked faintly amused and shook his head. 

"Could have been any number of people," he said casually. "The handwriting has been cleverly changed. I don't recognise it. I'm awfully curious though, I must say"

The next couple of weeks flew by and I began to find that my feelings were becoming too much to handle. It was getting far too hard, being around him but not being able to be close to him. I wanted to touch him, kiss him, run my fingers through his gorgeous dark hair, but I couldn't and it was killing me. So one night, I lay awake and though through my options. I couldn't tell him; that was out of the question. If he rejected me and the other students heard about it, I would never live it down. I would lose the last little bit of dignity and self-respect that I had if that happened. 

Finally, in the early hours of the morning, I decided that there was only one more thing I could do…


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts or anything else linked to the books. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them to mess around with. Vincent and Damon both belong to me, I think… 

Chapter 4 

****

Looking back, it was a stupid thing to do and it hurt us both, but I decided that if I was no longer friends with Vincent, if I ignored him completely, my feelings might disappear. I wasn't thinking straight and it seemed the logical thing to do at the time. How I was going to avoid him when we were on the same Quidditch team, had lessons together and shared a dorm didn't quite cross my mind immediately. At that point, the most important thing was to stop him guessing how I felt.

When we got up the next morning, I ignored him from the start. When he tried to talk to me, I blanked him completely and started to talk to Percy. Vincent looked completely bewildered, especially when we went down to breakfast and I planted myself between Percy and Damon, leaving Vincent to sit next to the twins. He tried to talk to me several times while we were eating, then finally realised that it was a waste of time and gave up. All through our morning lessons, he tried again, and again I ignored him, trying to block his voice from my head and concentrate on my work at the same time. When the bell rang, I quickly gathered my things and hurried from the room, but Vincent caught up with me and grabbed my arm.

"What is wrong with you today, Oliver?" he demanded. "Have I done something to upset you? You've been ignoring me all morning and I'm getting a little worried"

"Look, I'm getting sick of you going on at me" I snapped, pulling my arm from his grip. "Stop acting like you care"

"But I do care about you" he protested. "Why are you being like this, Oliver?"

"Well maybe I don't care about you" I said shortly, beginning to walk away. "I don't want your sympathy and I don't want your friendship. So just leave me alone"

As soon as the words had left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Vincent looked devastated, as he turned on his heels and walked off in the direction of the main exit. I really wanted to go after him and tell him that I was sorry, that I hadn't meant any of it. I was more confused than ever, everything was turning out to be such a big mess and I had no idea how to put things right.

I didn't go to lunch. I went up to my dorm, got my things for my afternoon lessons and my diary and went to the library. I know it's a bit strange, not many guys I know keep a diary, but I like writing things down. It helped me a lot when my depression was bad and it helped me now. It was the one thing I could be totally honest with and I wrote down everything that had happened that day and how bad it had made me feel. When I had finished, I read through the most recent entries. Most of them were just about Vincent and how I felt about him, just mindless rambling. I'd also written down a couple of dreams I'd had about him too, nothing explicit, but still fairly detailed. 

After lunch, I hurried to Potions and sat in my usual place. Vincent came in late with Professor Snape, who had a comforting hand on his shoulder. He sat beside me without a word, not even looking at me. I couldn't blame him, I'd hurt him very badly, and I knew that. 

Snape asked us to get out our Guide to Making Advanced Potions book. Looking at the two books I had picked up, I realised that I had accidentally picked up the book I had got from the library for Care of Magical Creatures class instead. I knew that Snape would give me a row, he hates students forgetting their books, and with Flint grinning away four seats away from me, it was the last thing I needed right then. But just as I was about to put up my hand, Vincent shot me a brief look and pushed his book over to me.

"Professor" he said quickly, not giving me a chance to refuse. "I am so sorry, but I have forgotten my book. I honestly didn't mean to, I'm really sorry…"

"Don't worry yourself about it" Snape said at once, much to everyone's amazement. "I have no spare copies at the moment however, so you will have to share. You can move if you wish" He glared at me, leaving me in no doubt that Vincent had told him about our argument. Vincent however, shook his head. 

"I'll sit here, sir," he said quietly. "But thank you anyway"

"Thank you" I whispered, once the lesson had begun. I knew why he had done it, because Snape loves scolding students, humiliating them and taking points from their houses. Even some Slytherin's get the treatment, although usually they have to do something really bad first. But Snape really has a soft spot for Vincent, his foster son, even to the point where he took twenty points from the Slytherin House after Flint played dirty and knocked Vincent off his broomstick. Completely unlike Snape, but he wouldn't scold Vincent for something as minor as forgetting a book and Vincent knew it. Even after I had upset him, he was still willing to get me out of trouble. He just looked down at the table and didn't reply, not that I actually expected him too. 

After Potions, we had Care of Magical Creatures and at the end, I noticed Vincent say a few words to Hagrid, whistle to his wolf cub and walked off, obviously wanting to be alone. 

He didn't come in to dinner that night. Damon told me that he hadn't come in for lunch either and asked if I knew what was wrong with him. I just shook my head and started to push my food around my plate. Damon seemed to realise that I didn't want to talk about it, so he began to talk to Percy and the Weasley twins. I could hear my name and Vincent's name being mentioned in several conversations. It seemed like everyone knew that we had had an argument, and from the sound of things, many of them blamed me. I was hardly surprised; Vincent is pretty popular amongst the students, even if he does have a reputation for being a bit strange. 

After dinner, I went straight up to my dormitory, knowing that there probably wouldn't be anyone there and I could have some much needed time alone. There was just one person up there, a guy named Joe, who I didn't know very well but who I certainly didn't like. Although he was in Gryffindor, he was good friends with a few Hufflepuffs and a handful of Slytherins, including Marcus Flint. Anyone who wants to be friends with Marcus Flint is bad news as far as I'm concerned.

Joe had my diary in his hand and when he saw me, he looked guilty and held it out to me.

"Sorry Oliver" he said quickly. "I was walking past your bed and I knocked your books off, so I was just picking them up for you"

"Thanks" I said curtly, snatching it from him and collapsing on my bed. It didn't cross my mind that Joe might have been lying. After all, what would anyone want with my diary? Most people in Hogwarts respect each other's privacy and so on. As it turned out, that was a big mistake.

Damon came in a while later, shortly followed by Percy. Joe came in about half an hour later, a smirk on his face, but even when I finally fell asleep, there was no sign of Vincent anywhere. When I woke up the next morning, his bed had already been made; the only clue that he had been there was that some of his books had gone. He wasn't at breakfast either, but as we were lining up to go into Potions, I saw him coming along with professor Snape. He looked completely exhausted and I felt another pang of guilt, knowing that I was the one who had caused him so much distress. I tried to tell myself that it was better this way, but I didn't really believe it. 

About half way through the lesson, while we were making our potions, Flint walked past and smirked at me. Before I had time to wonder what he was up to, he produced a piece of paper from his pocket. I recognized it immediately, it was one of the pages from my diary, and I could only assume that it was a recent page.

"Hey Vincent" Flint sounded perfectly friendly as he smiled at my old best friend. "I think perhaps you should read this. After this you might not want that freak for a friend after all"

Vincent glared at him and snatched the paper from his hand. This was my worst nightmare come true and all I could do was watch while he read it, wondering what he would say…


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts or anything else linked to the books. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them to mess around with. Vincent and Damon both belong to me, I think… 

Chapter 5

He read it silently, then put the paper down on the desk and glared at Flint.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" he whispered angrily. "Because if it is, it isn't very funny"

"Hell, I'm only showing you what I found" Flint grinned even more. "You must recognize Oliver's handwriting. But if you still don't believe me, why don't you just ask him? He wrote it, after all"

"Oliver?" Vincent turned and gave me a questioning look. "Did you really write this?" 

I couldn't answer; I couldn't even look him in the face. But as I glanced down at the desk, I could feel myself blushing. Unfortunately, Flint noticed and decided to share my little secret with the rest of the class.

"Hey!" he called at the top of his voice. "Oliver isn't just a freak, he's a gay freak! And he's in love with Vincent!"

The whole class, including Professor Snape turned to look at me. Vincent chose that moment to jump to his feet and smash his fist into Flint's nose. Flint flew back, knocking over a table and a half full cauldron as he landed. The potion in the cauldron went over several students, who started screaming. I took a quick look around, but no one was looking at me. A group of Slytherins were gathered around Flint, who was loudly threatening Vincent with every curse under the sun. Snape was trying to get the students in order and reassure them that they would all be fine, but everyone was enjoying their one chance to run wild in Potion's class. Seeing my chance, I quietly slipped away. We still had half an hour left, but I couldn't stay in the class, not now that everyone knew. And I still didn't know how Vincent felt, or what he thought of me now that he knew my true feelings. I'd never felt so alone in my life.

I went to the boys' bathroom and locked myself in one of the toilets. Then I took my penknife from inside my robes and looked hard at it. I hadn't cut myself for quite a while; I hadn't felt the need to. However, now I simply had nothing to lose, at least not that I could see. Gritting my teeth, I dug the blade into the flesh on my arm, cutting deep enough to draw blood. Three times I did it, in three different places, until my arm felt numb and blood was flowing freely. As I put my knife away, I realised that my cheeks were wet with tears, tears I hadn't realised I had shed. I ran my arm under the cold tap and bandaged it up with an old piece of cloth I had found in my pocket. Then I splashed cold water on my face and went out into the empty corridor. Looking at my watch, I was amazed to discover that I had been in the bathroom for almost an hour, which meant that I had missed my second lesson, but since I hadn't been planning on going to any of my lessons anyway, it didn't really matter. 

I decided that a walk might help me clear my head, so I slipped out of the main doors and began to walk around the grounds, keeping a eye open for any teachers or students. Madam Hooch was doing a flying lesson and so I was careful to keep away from that area, and also the greenhouse area, where I knew that Professor Sprout would be teaching. Instead I went round to the back of the school, where not many students ever actually go. It was quite cold so I sat down with my back against the school wall and wrapped my robe around me for warmth. 

Don't ask me how, but I think I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I suddenly opened my eyes to find myself face to face with Vincent's wolf cub. I yelled in surprise and he backed away, whimpering. I rubbed my eyes and noticed that it was beginning to get dark.

"Sol-leks!" I heard Vincent call from somewhere in the distance. "Where are you boy? Come here!"

That damn wolf threw his head up and howled. A moment later, Vincent ran round the corner of the building. As Sol-leks ran to him, I stood up and he looked at me. From what I could see, he looked rather relieved to see me.

"Where have you been?" he asked. "I've been looking everywhere for you since this morning. I was worried, I thought maybe you'd…done something stupid after what happened"

"I'm alright" I gave him a hesitant smile. "I came out here for a while…to be alone. But I guess I fell asleep. I'm sorry for worrying you"

"It's all right" Vincent lowered his eyes and looked at the ground. "Oliver, I think…maybe we need to talk, don't you?"

"I guess so," I muttered. I knew that it was now or never. The moment I had been waiting months for, and the moment I had also been dreading. Vincent began to walk, still not looking at me. I fell into step beside him.

"Listen" I said. "Before you say anything, I want you to know that yes, I did write that diary entry you read this morning. And yes I do have feelings for you. I knew that you would never be interested in me, so that's why I stopped speaking to you. I thought that it was the best thing to do but it wasn't. And it made me realise that you're my best friend and I don't want that to ever change. I missed having you around and I know I hurt you, but I'm…"

"Oliver" Vincent interrupted my rambling. "It's all forgiven. I understand why you were ignoring me now and you don't need to apologize for anything. If you want to know, you aren't the only idiot around here. In fact, we've both been a right pair of idiots"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you liked me but you were to scared to tell me how you felt" Vincent said carefully, almost as if he was trying to figure it out himself. "At the same time, I liked you and I was trying to figure out how to tell you. Then your feelings got the better of you and you started to push me away. I was really confused then, cause I couldn't tell whether you liked me or not. So I got mad at you for a while and we very nearly stopped speaking completely"    

"Yeah it was something like that" I started to say, then realised what he had said and stopped. "You…you just said that you liked me too?" I asked in amazement. Vincent looked rather embarrassed.

"Yes, I did" he admitted. "It's just…with my father and all that, I've never really had a relationship before so I had no idea how to tell you that I liked you"

"So…where do we go from here?" I asked hesitantly, still afraid that I may have got the wrong idea about what he said. "Just best friends again?"

"I don't know" Vincent stepped closer to me and pulled me into his arms. "What do you think?"

We stood there looking at each other for what seemed almost like forever. Then Vincent tilted his head and gently brushed his lips against mine, obviously uncertain about exactly how I was going to react. My only response was to kiss him back harder. 

Finally, desperately in need of a break, we drew apart and hugged, clinging to each other tightly. And it was then that I knew. No matter what happened, no matter what people did or said, everything would be all right. And Vincent knew it too, I could tell. As long as we loved each other, as long as we were together, nothing else mattered. 


End file.
